Judgment vs. Being Judgmental

Noah Webster defined judgment as "The act of judging; the act or process of the mind in comparing its ideas, to find their agreement or disagreement, and to ascertain truth; or the process of examining facts and arguments, to ascertain propriety and justice; or the process of examining the relations between one proposition and another. 1. The faculty of the mind by which man is enabled to compare ideas and ascertain the relations of terms and propositions; as a man of clear judgment or sound judgment The judgment may be biased by prejudice. judgment supplies the want of certain knowledge. 2. The determination of the mind, formed from comparing the relations of ideas, or the comparison of facts and arguments. In the formation of our judgments, we should be careful to weigh and compare all the facts connected with the subject. 3. In law, the sentence of doom pronounced in any cause, civil or criminal, by the judge or court by which it is tried. judgment may be rendered on demurrer, on a verdict, on a confession or default, or on a non-suit. judgment though pronounced by the judge or court, is properly the determination or sentence of the law. A pardon may be pleaded in arrest of judgment 4. The right or power of passing sentence. 5. Determination; decision. Let reason govern us in the formation of our judgment of things proposed to our inquiry. 6. Opinion; notion.

"7. In Scripture, the spirit of wisdom and prudence, enabling a person to discern right and wrong, good and evil. 8. A remarkable punishment; an extraordinary calamity inflicted by God on sinners. 9. The spiritual government of the world. 10. The righteous statutes and commandments of God are called his judgments. 11. The doctrines of the gospel, or God’s word. 12. Justice and equity. 13. The decrees and purposes of God concerning nations. 14. A court or tribunal. 15. Controversies, or decisions of controversies. 16. The gospel, or kingdom of grace. 17. The final trial of the human race, when God will decide the fate of every individual, and award sentence according to justice. Judgment of God. Formerly this term was applied to extraordinary trials of secret crimes, as by arms and single combat, by ordeal, or hot plowshares, etc.; it being imagined that God would work miracles to vindicate innocence."

The Oxford English Dictionary defines judgment as "the formation of an opinion or notion concerning something by exercising the mind upon it; an opinion, estimate, the faculty of judging, the critical faculty, discernment, good or sound judgment, discretion, wisdom, understanding, and good sense."


Do not judge according to appearance,
but judge with righteous judgment.—John 7:24


Judgment may be righteous or unrighteous, according to the amount of self you introduce in the equation. We think of one who judges righteous judgment as being "a good judge of character." We think of those who judge unrighteously as being "judgmental." Being judgmental is a soul taint. Judgment (and judging) is an absolute and an abstract principle rooted in the wisdom principle, a law of being, and a mental faculty.

"If you think at all so as to discriminate between truth and falsehood, you will find that you cannot accept open self-contradiction. Hence to think is to judge, and to judge is to criticise, and to criticise is to use a criterion of reality. And surely to doubt this would be mere blindness or confused self-deception."—F.H. Bradley, Appearance and Reality








Edna Lister on Judgment versus Being Judgmental

Every day is the Judgment Day, and you are your own judge.—Edna Lister, Release the Indwelling Power, January 11, 1933.


You judge yourself by every word you utter, and each word you use places you in the scale of evolution.—Edna Lister, Release the Indwelling Power, January 11, 1933.


We are our own judges, and have all outlined the lesson we were to learn in this life.—Edna Lister, The Sermon on the Mount, January 31, 1933.


You place yourself in the cosmic scheme by the way in which you talk. The thoughts you send out, clothed in words, judge you.—Edna Lister, The Sermon on the Mount, February 1, 1933.


You dare not take time to judge the other fellow, but must lift and not push him down. Declare that he is perfect, whole and complete, standing beside you in glory, freed of limitations.—Edna Lister, The Sermon on the Mount, February 1, 1933.


When you criticize and judge unrighteously, you condemn yourself.—Edna Lister, The Sermon on the Mount, February 1, 1933.


Your every word judges you.—Edna Lister, The Sermon on the Mount, February 1, 1933.


All thoughts are constructive or destructive, and you must bring them all before the judge of conscience, to be self-reviewed.—Edna Lister, The Dividing Line, May 27, 1934.


Righteous judgment is the finished work of imagination.—Edna Lister, Faith, October 3, 1934.


A wise judge keeps an open mind.—Edna Lister, Judgment, October 24, 1934.


"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."—Matthew 7:1-2. The true climber on the Path of Ascension learns to judge not. How would you like to be judged? Based on one visit? One sentence? One opportunity? One moment of weakness?—Edna Lister, The Sunlit Way, January 5, 1935.


You judge yourself, hard or soft, tough or easy, according to your faith. If your judgment is firm, your faith increases. If soft, with excuses, you rarely advance. You must judge yourself rigorously to ascend to the Father direct, into greater glory.—Edna Lister, Eternal Life, April 21, 1935.


Love and hatred prohibit the rendering of a true judgment — because they lessen the most important, so likewise they magnify the most trivial.—Edna Lister, January 1936.


You must judge yourself daily according to the Master’s standards.—Edna Lister, March 12, 1938.


The Father cares nothing for your judgment upon any of His children, for He alone is Judge, always and in all cases.—Edna Lister, July 24, 1938.


To judge another unjustly or blindly accuse another in anger, sends a part of your soul on a pilgrimage of darkness, and it may be centuries before you can recall it.—Edna Lister, July 24, 1938.


Reserve judgment, lest you be in danger of the inner Judgment for judging unrighteously.—Edna Lister, August 25, 1938.


Reason and judgment must both rule and hold the heart’s vain emotions under control until they may be conquered.—Edna Lister, September 28, 1938.


To be just is the prayer of the Judge.—Edna Lister, February 7, 1939.


Do not be judgmental: Walk softly before God, and know that His judgment of you will be exactly as harsh as your judgment of others.—Edna Lister, February 26, 1940.


Councils will adjudge your speaking of harsh words, even in your mind or heart, as contempt of God.—Edna Lister, November 6, 1940.


Each thought, each word will confront you in heaven, where you must acknowledge them as yours at night, then on earth, to wipe it out after you have made full recompense to law, or after transition.—Edna Lister, November 6, 1940.


Choice is yours: You are your own judge, your own law, yet God does the only rewarding. Being your own judge means that your deep thoughts and desires behind your words and actions bring their own rewards on the outer, not what you deem as your reward, but only what God judges as reward.—Edna Lister, November 14, 1940.


You may judge only yourself.—Edna Lister, November 14, 1940.


You never judge another, knowing that the law takes care of everything.—Edna Lister, February 13, 1941.


Councils judge everyone according to their effort of desire, obedience and surrender.—Edna Lister, July 3, 1941.


Look around before you condemn or critically judge another; each brings something into the whole.—Edna Lister, May 14, 1942.


You cannot be hurt or offended unless you are resenting and blaming, which is unrighteously judging another.—Edna Lister, December 15, 1944.


It is not condemnation to judge the self, but justice.—Edna Lister, July 10, 1945.


Judge not unrighteously, lest you be judged: You may not "sit in judgment" upon anyone of earth.—Edna Lister, July 19, 1945.


Your attitude after being judged by a Heavenly Council brings judgment upon your sponsor also.—Edna Lister, July 19, 1945.


This is your day of judgment; each must give an accounting in the day of judgment.—Edna Lister, July 21, 1945.


Idle words, actions, idle expenditure of energy, such as gossip, criticizing, even self-condemnation instead of proper repentance, lifting, surrender, and giving up of self-things, all must be accounted for in each day’s final judgment.—Edna Lister, July 23, 1945.


Never sit in the high seat of judgment to pass judgment upon another—only God can so judge.—Edna Lister, February 12, 1946.


The disciple, James Bar Zebedee, represents the faculty of good judgment.—Edna Lister, February 7, 1947.


Never sit in judgment upon your own loved ones.—Edna Lister, June 17, 1947.


Logic, reason, discernment discrimination, and discretion produce good judgment, and are the results of common sense.—Edna Lister, August 20, 1947.


The one who truly knows law well enough to be a judge simply quotes the proper law by which to judge themselves.—Edna Lister, June 17, 1949.


Take stock every night, but hold no sense of unworthiness or sin. Every day is a day of judgment. Reach out with arms of love and gather in your negative thoughts, deeds or words spoken while subconscious mind used your voice; lift everything hourly. Consecrate yourself nightly to something constructive for the following day so the Holy Spirit can descend to you. Keep your accounts paid up. Do not carry yesterday’s limitations with you; the only tragedy is to drag today’s limitations into tomorrow. Balance the day’s activities each night and wipe the slate clean. Keep your accounts up to date.—Edna Lister, I Remember, October 8, 1950.


When life brings crucifying humiliations, grief and disappointments to one, Light tests each on his reaction to the other’s disappointment. God tests for blame, for judging falsely from outer appearances and for a critical attitude that exalts itself by comparing its own safe, secure place, and its miracles with one so used in God’s service.—Edna Lister, May 9, 1951.


When you criticize or judge a personal judgment, you cannot escape the reaction of law unless you pass the initiation of righteous judgment; God can then legalize your judgment as justice tempered by mercy.—Edna Lister, June 4, 1951.


Look at people with faith, love, compassion, not prejudice and judgment.—Edna Lister, To Seek the Light, June 10, 1951.


"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill. Whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment."—Matthew 5:21-22. The first step belongs to the creature only — he kills for the lust and love of destruction. If there were no judgment in this stage, the destruction would continue wholesale. The creature consciousness must develop a good hearty fear of retribution, so the judgment of law is harsh. When one judges another, he draws this harsh judgment to himself.—Edna Lister, The First Days, June 17, 1951.


Let God’s Light be the final judge.—Edna Lister, February 24, 1952.


God takes no cognizance of your family’s judgments of its members.—Edna Lister, Gifts and Giving, June 14, 1953.


You must be capable of analysis without judgment. When you have become love, you do not unrighteously judge another. Love gathers darkness for the Light to absorb it, like picking up trash from the floor, but does not judge it.—Edna Lister, November 30, 1953.


Your conscience is the judge who reminds you of law; it is your Oversoul speaking.—Edna Lister, I Accept, June 27, 1954.


Grief construed as self-judgment is a double debt your Father pays when you cry about your mistakes.—Edna Lister, July 19, 1954.


The Councils are not interested in people’s opinions and prejudices, but judge by the lights of their souls.—Edna Lister, November 21, 1954.


If you interfere with each other, it may cause unrighteous judgment.—Edna Lister, December 16, 1954.


You become involved in spiritual debts only when personal opinions or prejudices take over. You begin to play one individual against another, comparing them with each other and judging.—Edna Lister, March 9, 1955.


Consider yourself first when you notice a fault in another, and lift it while you name it good. If you can see it in another, it stands a good chance of being in you. The law is, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness," not "seek first another’s flaws to judge them."—Edna Lister, Prove Thy Works, September 16, 1956.


Judge not, and you shall not be judged. After you have wiped out the tendency to judge another, nothing negative will remain in your response when you face a difficult person or situation.—Edna Lister, God Is a Gentleman, September 29, 1957.


When you listen to another’s emotional troubles or complaints about someone, then dramatize it in the retelling, even for lifting, you hold the others down with subconscious condemnation. (Wearing blinders, passing judgement, and blaming may create some forms of moral and physical blindness.)—Edna Lister, November 21, 1957.


When you judge yourself by your neighbors’ standards, you are worldly wonderful — if that is all you want to be.—Edna Lister, December 25, 1957.


Everyone has opinions and prejudices. Prejudice is to prejudge, and you do so according to your experiences. All prejudice is a buildup of experience.—Edna Lister, January 3, 1958.


You can recognize a person as being not good, but you must instantaneously lift him to God. Judge not, but lift. You do not stub your toe on him if you lift him. When you sit in judgment, you go down in consciousness, past recognizing what he has done. Our only business is to lift the cover on darkness, revealing it to the Light, not to criticize. See, but do not dwell on it.—Edna Lister, January 21, 1958.


Blame equals self; blame means you love self before God. By your own judgments, you will know.—Edna Lister, April 22, 1958.


God isn’t asking whether you approve of someone else. God judges only you on the judgment you are expressing.—Edna Lister, September 22, 1958.


Never speak judgmentally about the debts someone else owes.—Edna Lister, October 30, 1958.


You write new negative records when you judge others and so take on their debts in blame.—Edna Lister, Being Without Self, November 2, 1958.


You must be your own judge and executioner — if you fail, the world would pin your ears back in a way the Councils could not.—Edna Lister, May 4, 1959.


Subconscious mind cannot discern the difference between righteous indignation and passing judgment.—Edna Lister, The Pioneering Mystic, May 5, 1959.


When you declare that another has done wrong, your judgment goes no farther than the room you occupy and your own record.—Edna Lister, The Pioneering Mystic, May 5, 1959.


People who look for those who sin, ready to pin the record of sin on their coattails, have revenge motives, and blame and judgment traits.—Edna Miriam, Visualization, May 17, 1959.


As you judge one person for something, you are judging all souls in that degree.—Edna Lister, May 28, 1959.


Discretion is a law of surrender, the power of deciding or judging, the faculty that governs knowing when to speak and when to remain silent.—Edna Lister, Eight Great Powers of Being, June 23, 1959.


God never asks you to judge anyone else. You may judge only yourself.—Edna Lister, June 29, 1959.


Judge every day every night by looking back over the day to see if you’ve left any holes of ungraciousness, sharp words, indifference, etc. Before you go to sleep, raise your hands and praise the Father, asking that the Shekinah glory pour in to fill the holes.—Edna Lister, The 33 Degrees of Soul Conquering, October 20, 1959.


Ascension promotions are based on your auric colors and answers to initiatory questions. You can give the right answers, but your colors may flare to reveal another tendency; this is how the heavenly inquisitors judge you.—Edna Lister, October 25, 1959.


Use no force with anyone. Just gentle lifting, with no judgment, can free all men.—Edna Lister, Three Covenants Between God and Man, December 15, 1959.


When your thinking, judgment and reason clog, it causes the subconscious to work detrimentally.—Edna Lister, March 11, 1960.


Judgment is the ability to make prudent decisions. It is closely related to discretion, the faculty that governs knowing when to speak and when to stay silent. To apply law to yourself, you judge your self.—Edna Lister, How Can I Apply Law to My Life? June 7, 1960.


God gave us the faculty of reason to use as just appraisal. When you use rationalization instead, it becomes criticism and negative judgment.—Edna Lister, What Is Virtue, July 12, 1960.


When the faculties of Wisdom and Love do not open in balance, the soul is erratic in judgment and emotions.—Edna Lister, October 3, 1960.


No person may sit in judgment on one who has become law.—Edna Lister, December 5, 1960.


In criticism, you create a black cloud of blame over the one criticized, and your passing of judgment holds you both in bondage until you, the criticizer, pay the debt.—Edna Lister, May 27, 1961.


Judging a person’s potential is different from justly appraising his ability to perform: You pay a debt for holding another to his vision level, rather than to his appraisal level.—Edna Lister, July 26, 1961.


Judgment may be neither hot nor cold, but balanced and impersonal. Those who base their discussions on intellectual reasoning about what seems right judge by what they believe people deserve. This is unrighteous judgment, sitting in the judgment seat.—Edna Lister, The Seven-Branched Candle Stand, October 31, 1961.


Never judge tomorrow by how last week has been.—Edna Lister, November 5, 1961.


If you really have become law you would not be capable of sitting in judgment of another under any condition. Such unrighteous judgment always includes blame.—Edna Lister, May 29, 1962.


When you have become law, you dare not sit in judgment of another under any condition — condemnation, criticism, and blame count as sitting in judgment.—Edna Lister, May 29, 1962.


God has given you the power of judgment and you must take the time to be discrete, discriminating and discerning. Bringing the faculties to bear is your criterion of judgment for the future.—Edna Lister, August 9, 1962.


Passing judgment is a form of being blind to the law of the Lord.—Edna Lister, March 18, 1963.


True righteousness is right judgment.—Edna Lister, August 13, 1962.


Never go to bed without having made this a Day of Judgment and releasing the Power to fill the holes you left.—Edna Lister, March 25, 1963.


You cannot lift an evil that sits under tons of personal judgment.—Edna Lister, God as Principle Applied Under Logic and Reason, November 5, 1963.


Relating information about a person or a situation is not gossiping or recreating IF you do it without emotional prejudice, intellectual unrighteous judgment, and truly base it in loving, compassionate understanding.—Edna Lister, November 13, 1963.


Ten ascension candidates, pulling a vibration down to unrighteous judgment, add as much weight as all the masses together; therefore the High Councils must withdraw the Power from a soul who judges unrighteously. Once the Power is withdrawn from you, it takes six full months of digging, devotion, prayers and praise to open the Gate as high for Power to be released as it was when you unrighteously judged.—Edna Lister, November 28, 1963.


Subconscious mind cannot distinguish the difference between "righteous" and "unrighteous," and it always works out any type of judgment through your body and affairs.—Edna Lister, Five Keys of the Kingdom, 1964.


You unrighteously assume the role of judge when you think in terms of enemies, and those so declared surely become adversaries who then judge you.—Edna Lister, Five Keys of the Kingdom, 1964.


You have no right to judge another soul but you do have the right to make a just appraisal, which you may not use for personal gain or self-justification.—Edna Lister, April 13, 1964.


Faulty judgments are due to ignorance of higher laws as well as of the Sources.—Edna Lister, Your Relation to God — Approach, Presence, Worship, December 1, 1964.


As you ascend, you must pay for every disobedience to law. Therefore, what may seem harsh to you is pure justice if the one being judged is to hold his gains of place, position, and ascension.—Edna Lister, January 13, 1965.


Law does not require you to like that which is unlike God, but you must not judge it unrighteously.—Edna Lister, June 25, 1965.


If you say, "I feel," you have descended to the solar plexus ("little me" hunches), and sitting in judgment.—Edna Lister, November 8, 1965.


People who exercise hasty judgement create hasty debt.—Edna Lister, Eight Great Powers of Being, October 18, 1966.


Every day is a day of judgment and you must balance your books each night so you have no hangovers from the day’s misused soul substance. Otherwise, you may awaken with a sense of guilt and a low vibration.—Edna Lister, October 20, 1966.


You will find that many souls must see the other fellow in darkness to enhance their own purity and beauty; this is unrighteous judging.—Edna Lister, Faith and Strength, May 7, 1967.


The soul develops strong and stable moral values by the exercise of three basic judgments: Self‑judgment, which is moral choice, social judgment, which is ethical choice, and God‑focused judgment, which is religious choice.—Edna Lister, Omnipresence as Time-Space Relationships, October 17, 1967.


God has given us five great laws by which we can judge every act of life — logic, reason, discernment, discrimination, and discretion, which gives us the ability to see the truth.—Edna Lister, January 10, 1968.


By your words are you judged and condemned, not what you think or what the other fellow sees.—Edna Lister, Undated Papers, 1933-1971.

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Treatments for Good Judgment

"Jesus Christ is now here raising me to his consciousness of divine judgment and I express the wisdom of God in all I think, say and do. Divine love, infinite wisdom and supreme intelligence are now active in my affairs, and they are working out to the satisfaction of everyone concerned. I am, the Father and I are one. I am now in conscious contact with divine love. Divine love is flowing into me, through me, and I feel its powerful force radiating from me now."—Edna Lister, July 1949.


You must fill any lack at night: Go to your own altar, ask forgiveness and fill any hole left above by your misdeeds. Send Light to those you may have criticized. The Christ Legions assigned to you add their strength to yours through the day as you stumble. If your thought knocks another down, one of the Legion goes to his side to pick him up. This is instantaneous when you realize what you have done and immediately send Light to cover your transgression.—Edna Lister, October 20, 1966.

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New Testament on Judging

Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire [because it is judgmental cursing].—Matthew 5:21-22.


Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.—Matthew 7:1-2.


Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.—Luke 6:37-38.


Do not look at the speck in your brother’s eye while ignoring the plank in your own eye. First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.—Matthew 7:3,5.


Do [not] look at the speck in your brother’s eye, [without perceiving] the plank in your own eye. First remove the plank from your own eye; and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.—Luke 6:42.


The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.—John 5:22.


I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.—John 5:30. [As you hear, you judge; and your judgment is righteous only if you do not seek your own will but the will of the Father who sent you.]


Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.—John 7:24.


Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.—John 8:15-16. [You judge according to the flesh; the Christ judges no one. Yet if he does judge, his judgment is true; for he is not alone, but is with the Father who sent him.]


If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.—John 12:47-48.


Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.—1 Corinthians 4:5.


My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?—James 2:1-4.


For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.—James 2:13.


There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?—James 4:12.


Above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.—James 5:12.

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Old Testament on Judgment and Judging

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor.—Leviticus 19:15.


Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have.—Leviticus 19:35-36.


The Lord is known by the judgment He executes; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.—Psalm 9:16.


The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.—Psalm 19:7-9.


God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another. Psalm 75:7.


God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.—Psalm 82:1.


It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.—Proverbs 24:23. [It is not good to show partiality in judgment.]


Do not say, "I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work."—Proverbs 24:29.


It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter; as the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable.—Proverbs 25:2-3.


A wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment, because for every matter there is a time and judgment.—Ecclesiastes 8:5-6.


The sentence against an evil work must be executed speedily.—Ecclesiastes 8:11.


God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.—Ecclesiastes 12:14.

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Judgment and Judging in Other Sacred Writings

Laws for the rulers of nations: Give ear, you who rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations, for power is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest, who shall try your works, and search out your counsels. Because, being ministers of His kingdom, you have not judged aright, kept the law, or walked after the counsel of God, He shall come upon you horribly and speedily: for a sharp judgment shall be to those in high places. Mercy will soon pardon the meanest, but mighty men shall be mightily tormented. He who is Lord over all shall fear no man’s person, nor stand in awe of any man’s greatness: for He has made the small and great, and cares for all alike.—Wisdom of Solomon 6:2-7.


Be not curious in unnecessary matters: for many are deceived by their own vain opinion; and an evil suspicion overthrows their judgment.—Wisdom of Ben Sirach 3:23-24.


As the judge of the people is himself, so are his officers; and what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such are all they who dwell therein.—Wisdom of Ben Sirach 10:2.


Strive not in a matter that does not concern you; and sit not in judgment with sinners.—Wisdom of Ben Sirach 11:9.


Meddle not with many matters: for if you meddle much, you shall not be innocent; and if you follow after, you shall not obtain, neither shall you escape by fleeing.—Wisdom of Ben Sirach 11:10.


Judge none blessed before his death: for a man shall be known in his children.—Wisdom of Ben Sirach 11:28.


Before judgment examine yourself, and in the day of visitation you shalt find mercy.—Wisdom of Ben Sirach 18:20.


There is an exquisite subtlety, and the same is unjust; and there is one who turns aside to make judgment appear; and there is a wise man who justifies in judgment.—Wisdom of Ben Sirach 19:25.


They who fear the Lord shall find judgment, and shall kindle justice as a light.—Wisdom of Ben Sirach 32:16.


Judge with uprightness, so that your ministry may be glorified.—Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, Codex VI,1.

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Edna Miriam Lister
1884—1971
The original Pioneering Mystic,
Christian Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


Etymology of judgment: Latin judicare "to judge," from judicem (nom. judex) "to judge," a compound of jus "right, law" + root of dicere "to say."


Judgment is an absolute principle; God is the Judge.

Judgment is an abstract principle.

Judgment is a law of being.

Judgment is a soul faculty.


References

Bradley, Francis H. Appearance and Reality: A Metaphysical Essay. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1916, 136.

Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, 2024.

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV).

The Nag Hammadi Library. James M. Robinson, ed. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988.

The Oxford English Dictionary: Compact Ed., 2 vols. E.S.C. Weiner, ed. Oxford University Press, 1971.


Related Topics

Criticism

Just Appraisal

Morality

Righteous Judgment: Edna Lister sermon outline; October 24, 1934.